Southern California’s Jordan McLaughlin, left, goes to the basket next to Stanford’s Marcus Allen, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, January 5, 2017

Stanford, playing without leading scorer Reid Travis, lost 72-56 to Southern California in Pac-12 men’s basketball before 4,092 at Galen Center in Los Angeles.

Travis missed the game due to a right shoulder injury. Without him, the Cardinal (8-7 overall, 0-3 Pac-12) shot 36.4 percent from the field.

Stanford committed 21 turnovers, which USC converted to 27 points..

Marcus Allen and Dorian Pickens led Stanford with 13 points each, while Josh Sharma grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and scored eight points off the bench in the Cardinal’s third straight defeat.

Jordan McLaughlin led the No. 25 Trojans (15-1, 2-1 Pac-12) with 15 points, followed by Chimezie Metu with 14, De’Anthony Melton with 12 and Jonah Mathews with 10.

Metu also pulled down 10 of USC’s 38 rebounds.

The Trojans held a 36-28 halftime lead and led Stanford by the same margin in the second half. USC’s largest lead was 18 points with three minutes to play.

Stanford’s next stop on the LA road trip is Pauley Pavilion, where the Cardinal face No. 4 UCLA at 5 p.m. PDT Sunday.